1 Chronicles 21 | New International Reader’s Version

New International Reader’s Version

David counts his fighting men

1 Satan rose up against Israel. He stirred up David to count the men of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, ‘Go! Count the men of Israel from Beersheba all the way to Dan. Report back to me. Then I’ll know how many there are.’ 3 Joab replied, ‘May the LORD multiply his troops 100 times. King David, you are my master. Aren’t all the men under your control? Why would you want me to count them? Do you want to make Israel guilty?’ 4 In spite of what Joab said, the king’s order had more authority than Joab’s reply did. So Joab left and went all through Israel. Then he came back to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported to David how many fighting men he had counted. In the whole land of Israel there were 1,100,000 men who could use their swords well. That included 470,000 men in Judah. 6 But Joab didn’t include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the total number. The king’s command was sickening to Joab. 7 It was also evil in the sight of God. So he punished Israel. 8 Then David said to God, ‘I committed a great sin when I counted Israel’s men. I beg you to take away my guilt. I’ve done a very foolish thing.’ 9 The LORD spoke to Gad, David’s prophet. The LORD said, 10 ‘Go and tell David, “The LORD says, ‘I could punish you in three different ways. Choose one of them for me to punish you with.’ ” ’ 11 So Gad went to David. Gad said to him, ‘The LORD says, “Take your choice. 12 You can have three years when there will not be enough food in the land. You can have three months when your enemies will sweep you away. They will catch up with you. They will destroy you with their swords. Or you can have three days when the sword of the LORD will punish you. That means there would be three days of plague in the land. My angel would strike down people in every part of Israel.” So take your pick. Tell me how to answer the one who sent me.’ 13 David said to Gad, ‘I’m suffering terribly. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD. His mercy is very great. But don’t let me fall into human hands.’ 14 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel. And 70,000 Israelites died. 15 God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing it, the LORD saw it. The LORD decided to end the plague he had sent. So he spoke to the angel who was destroying the people. He said, ‘That is enough! Do not kill any more people!’ The angel of the LORD was standing at Araunah’s threshing-floor. Araunah was from the city of Jebus. 16 David looked up. He saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth. The angel was holding out a sword over Jerusalem. David and the elders fell with their faces to the ground. They were wearing the rough clothing people wear when they’re sad. 17 David said to God, ‘I ordered the fighting men to be counted. I’m the one who has sinned. I am the shepherd of these people. I’m the one who has done what is wrong. These people are like sheep. What have they done? LORD my God, punish me and my family. But don’t let this plague continue to strike your people.’

David builds an altar

18 Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up to the threshing-floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. He wanted David to build an altar there to honour the LORD. 19 So David went up and did it. He obeyed the message that Gad had spoken in the LORD’s name. 20 Araunah was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel. Araunah’s four children were with him. They hid themselves. 21 David approached the threshing-floor. Araunah looked up and saw him. So Araunah left the threshing-floor. He bowed down to David with his face towards the ground. 22 David said to him, ‘Let me have the property your threshing-floor is on. I want to build an altar there to honour the LORD. When I do, the plague on the people will be stopped. Sell the threshing-floor to me for the full price.’ 23 Araunah said to David, ‘Take it! King David, you are my master. Do what you please. I’ll even provide the oxen for the burnt offerings. Use boards from the threshing sleds for the wood. Use the wheat for the grain offering. I’ll give it all to you.’ 24 But King David replied to Araunah, ‘No! I want to pay the full price. I won’t take what belongs to you and give it to the LORD. I won’t sacrifice a burnt offering that hasn’t cost me anything.’ 25 So David paid Araunah 7 kilograms of gold for the property. 26 David built an altar there to honour the LORD. He sacrificed burnt offerings and friendship offerings. He called out to the LORD. The LORD answered him by sending fire from heaven on the altar for burnt offerings. 27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel. And the angel put his sword away. 28 When the angel did that, David was still at the threshing-floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. David saw that the LORD had answered him. So he offered sacrifices there. 29 At that time, the LORD’s holy tent was at the high place in Gibeon. The altar for burnt offerings was there too. Moses had made the holy tent in the desert. 30 David couldn’t go to the tent to pray to God. That’s because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

English Standard Version

David’s Census Brings Pestilence

1 Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. (2Sa 24:1; Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Zec 3:1)

2Sa 24:1Job 1:6Job 2:1Zec 3:1

2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report, that I may know their number.” 3 But Joab said, “May the Lord add to his people a hundred times as many as they are! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord’s servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?” 4 But the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah 470,000 who drew the sword. (2Sa 24:9) 6 But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab. (1Ch 27:24) 7 But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. 8 And David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” (2Sa 12:13) 9 And the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, (1Sa 9:9; 1Ch 29:29) 10 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Choose what you will: 12 either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” (2Sa 24:13) 13 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” 14 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell. 15 And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. (Ge 6:6) 16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. (2Sa 3:31; 1Ki 20:31) 17 And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”

David Builds an Altar

18 Now the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. (2Ch 3:1) 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground. 22 And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the Lord—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.” 23 Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.” 24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 25 So David paid Ornan 600 shekels^[1] of gold by weight for the site. (2Sa 24:24) 26 And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord^[2] answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. (Le 9:24) 27 Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon, (1Ki 3:4; 1Ch 16:39; 2Ch 1:3) 30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.